


Fantasy Arts Online.

by Reaper_sama



Category: Devil May Cry, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Sword Art Online
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure, Adventure & Romance, Crossover, Eventual Romance, F/F, F/M, Gen, Multi, Other, Romance, Slow Burn, Slow Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2018-08-28
Packaged: 2019-05-25 12:29:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14977193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reaper_sama/pseuds/Reaper_sama
Summary: "Ugh snakes, why'd it have to be snakes?" Prompto whined, causing both Noctis and I to shush him with a glare. "Of course it's snakes, did you not read the mission description? Were you not with Noct and me when we literally discussed the quest out in the open? Prompto, the boss of this mini dungeon is a giant snake lady, I think it stands to reason that there would be snakes in a place run by a snake lady!" I angrily whispered back. I was already hating the snake filled caverns but Prom's whinging about it was just making it all worse, I knew from the moment Noctis proposed the three of us complete the quest whilst looking for Gladio and Ignis that this would be a bad Idea but the copious amount of rare loot in this place was just unreal according to other players and honestly the little treasure hungry goblin in me was way too greedy to pass up the chance for some sweet, sweet loot.Alice was never much of multiplayer  kind of person but now after getting literally immersed in the first ever full-body vr game Fantasy Arts Online she'll have to learn to get along with her fellow players, after all in a game of life or death, a few friends can really make the difference.





	1. New Day, New Game.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CoolStar69](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CoolStar69/gifts).

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The epic beginning!

School was quite possibly the worst thing in all the worlds and I hate it, I mean waking up to a new day with new problems and new reasons to stay in bed and forgo the rest of the world only for reality to smash into your hypothetical living room wall and demand you go out, learn useless information and---ugh, socialize with those you barely tolerated, oh yes please.

Thankfully school was over for the week and I had better things to think about, like what my plans for the rest of the day are. Regardless another day was done and tomorrow would be the start of the weekend which meant that I had two days to chill with my dogs and play all the video games I wanted to. Speaking of my dogs, Rose and Ame go crazy barking and pawing at me as soon as I walking the door though as soon as I give them the attention they desire they go back to the living room to lay down and I head to the stairs.

Making my way up my bedroom I realized it was way too quiet before remembering that no one was home seeing as how my mother took my sisters to a friend's house for a playdate; something about not turning out like me, I think? Eh whatever, not like it really matters anyway. After taking off my uniform (and a moment of regretting my life due to my bare feet touching an icy cold floor) I made my way to my dresser to find my favourite fuzzy pink sweater that seemed more like a dress on my tiny ass body and pulled on a pair of black bike shorts with a pair of oversized socks. I had plans for what remained of the day, big plans: I was going to stay home and play video games.

Almost as soon as my foot hit the bottom step I heard the doorbell ring and the dogs go crazy; I was about to call out to my mom only to remember she wasn't actually here, it would fall on me to get the door this time around.

I opened the door; doing my best to keep an annoyed look off my face and the dogs at bay, only to come face to face with a delivery man carrying a large box. "Are you Alice Langford?" he asked looking very much as though he had better things to be doing, which to be fair so did I.

"Well I hope so, I mean that is what it says on my birth certificate."

Not exactly the nicest way to phrase that I'm sure but hey, this was just cutting into valuable game time.

The man gives me an annoyed look. "Look just drop the sarcasm and sign here, I don't have all day you know." He spat.

I took the clipboard and signed as neatly as I could before handing it back to him and sticking my tongue out at him as he left. 

'What a jerk, you'd think people like that'd be a little more professional when dealing with customers. Now who the hell's sending me packages? It isn't like Christmas or my birthday is it? No, no I think I'd know for certain if it was...maybe... yeah, yeah I would.'

Deciding to forgo food for the moment I picked the box up and took it back up to my room where I sat it on the floor and began opening it; still curious as to who it was from.

"Oh hey, there's a note: 'Happy early birthday kiddo, don't say I never did anything for ya. Yui.' Wait is this?--- Oh my gawd it is!!" In an uncharacteristic moment of unbridled joy I let out a screech almost pterodactyl in nature most likely terrifying any who'd heard it (i.e. my dogs), and began setting the device up. My very own Oracle vr device, courtesy of my aunt.

My aunt on my mother's side- worked as a game designer for the first and so far only company that proposed the idea of a console that wouldn't just send the player into a vr world with limited control over what happens but would actually feel as though you'd actually entered a brand new world, the only game for this system so far was an open world mmorpg called Fantasy Arts Online; the perfect game for a total dork like me.

I begin ripping through the cardboard box not all that concerned with being overly careful.

"Wow. The Oracle is even more awesome up close!" I squeal, enthusiastically I unpack the whole box but just as I was about to start setting up the console my stomach began to growl and I, begrudgingly, went back down the stairs to find some food and to feed Rose and Ame I walk through the hall to the kitchen I spot a photo I didn't think I'd ever see again, I feel my eyes tear up a little as I stare at the picture; the smiling faces of my mother and father as well as a much younger me stare back at my bleary red eyed face, I continue to stare at it quietly for a few more minutes before slamming it down on the shelf face flat.

"And here I thought mom got rid of these pictures after she started dating again."

I quickly moved on to the kitchen and grabbed a slice of cold pizza, a leftover from yesterday's dinner, and texted my mom to let her know I'd be away from my phone for a few hours.

Giving the dogs one final pet each I head back up the stairs and upon returning to my room I began hooking the system up. I practically tear whatever chords I wasn't using at the moment out of the wall like a crazy person and glance every so often at the instruction booklet to make sure I didn't screw up. Finally after half an hour of messing around with everything I was finally ready to enter the virtual world; I placed the helmet over my eyes carefully so as not to disrupt the cords, laid down on my bed, and closed my eyes waiting for the device to carry me away to Virtual Reality.

Aaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnd...Nothing!

I opened my eyes, annoyed I chucked the visor off letting it hit one of the pillows on my bed before sitting up.

'Ngggh, stupid thing. I'm almost certain I did everything right,hell I even read the stupid man-u---oh-hey, that explains it.' 

Realising I'd misplaced one of the chords I quickly worked to fix my mistake and hopped back into bed, put the helmet back on and tried again. Closing my eyes, I held down the the power button and---

"Game! Start link!"

Success!


	2. Trapped And Not Loving It.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which it all goes to shit.

FeelinI feel gusts of wind brush past my cheeks as I opened my eyes and was greeted to the sight of what looked to be the game's starting area:  A townsquare looking area that, with cobblestone streets and brick walls, felt like it had been pulled straight from the medieval ages; the whole area was filled with new players who like myself seemed to look on in awe at just how beautiful this place really was,  so much attention to even the smallest detail. Each and every pixel seemed dedicated to making this virtual world look as life-like as humanly possible.  I Looked around at everyone else then down at myself, we all seemed to be wearing the same thing: A loose tan tunic, light brown pants, and darker brown shoes. Seeing a faint glow on the underside of my left wrist, I pulled back the sleeve; embedded in the underside of my wrist was a small crystal looking device, the middle of this strange device was what had been giving off the eerie white glow. Out of curiosity I pressed it with my index finger and was greeted to the smiling face of a cartoon chocobo: "Greetings PLAYER ALICE, I'm Cho-Cho; your personal tutorial chocobo, I'm here to teach you all you need to know about Fantasy Arts Online, I'll be your guide through the first level but after that you're on your own, Kweh!" Not even going to lie this 'Cho-Cho' was a little off-putting to me. "Um, ok then, guide on Cho-Cho." "First thing's first, I need to teach you how to use your menu: The device in your wrist is actually your player menu, tap the middle with both your index and middle finger as though you are checking your pulse, keweh." I did as the bird asked and was greeted with a holographic menu with options that included things like: quests, map, inventory, and of course character leveling. "Your menu is of course touch operated, keweh. Let's try it out by setting up a marker at the Registration building: go into the map function-" Again doing as I was told, I opened the map. "Excellent, now use both your thumb and index finger to zoom in on your map to view your general area. Excellent, keweh! Your really getting the hang of this. Now see the building with the large 'R'? Click on it to create a marker. Slipping away from the other players, some of whom were apparently still waiting for friends,I found my way into the somewhat nearby building labeled 'Registration and Avatar Customization' and began signing up and making my avatar. Clicking on a large full body mirror allowed me to enter the customization menu allowing me to pick nearly all aspects of my appearance; from things like body type to exact colouration, nothing (within reason of course) was beyond reach. I began piecing together my virtual body: giving myself a little more of a muscular form, slightly darker skin, yellow eyes, and short bright red hair. Next I needed to think up a name for my avatar; something cool, something epic, something that screamed that I was a player not to be messed with. "I've got nothing.Should I just a " I decided to use the random name generator and just let the game throw ideas at me until I found a name I liked. "Let's see: Runa? No. Darru? No. Zia? No. Nao? No." this process went on for quite a while. All these different names and not one that I could honestly say I liked or, at the very least, could pronounce, needless to say I'd almost given up on finding a good avatar name when... 'I've got it!' Registering myself hadn't taken very long and after taking a moment to check my connection strength, I was back to taking the tutorial. "Alright I think you're ready to go get some questing gear; remember what I taught you and head to the map, instead of looking for the large 'R' however we will instead be looking for the general goods store---" After going through Cho-Cho's lesson and making my way to the general goods store, the only store on the map, I found myself going through the shop's wares trying to find some armour and a weapon, trying to be at least somewhat conservative with what little money the tutorial had provided me seeing as how I'd not only need to buy armour and a weapon but also health items. As I went through all the shopkeeper had to offer I heard the door open and in stepped a man with bright blue eyes and spiky blond hair followed by a woman with bright green eyes and short bubblegum pink hair, both wearing some pretty cool attire: the man wore indigo pants with a sleeveless shirt, and a belt, he was also wearing brown boots, gauntlets with a pauldron over his left shoulder and a SOLDIER band on his left wrist. The woman with him wore a white muscle shirt under a black leather skirt with suspender straps, she also wore red gloves and brown boots that looked the the guy's. They must have been beta testers, or at least he must have been, though I was mainly judging by his armour and the fact that he was wearing what looked to be a guild band if what I'd seen in the demos still held up. I did recognize him from somewhere or rather something I'm sure of it but what was it? The girl must have noticed that I was staring at her companion because she looked over right at me, her friend also turning to look before I quickly turned back to look at the gear in front of me blushing and mortified. The pinkette took a step towards me but before she come any closer the world around me went completely white, I felt really tingly all over, it was like my body was asleep, suddenly everything around me changed and I was no longer in the shop but rather in a large empty colosseum like area that was filling up with other players looking about as confused as I was. The two from the shop appeared approximately the same distance away from me as they were before. "Cloud what's going on? Did this happen when you and Zack played?" The girl quietly asked her friend. Everyone began looking to the arena's clear dome-like ceiling as the sky began to darken, the man shook his head. "Not from what I remember and I'm sure I'd remember something like this. It could just be a new feature added in last minute." Out of nowhere it'd begun to rain; slowly at first but picked up immediately with thunder roaring and lightning crackling all around us, the dark clouds and lightning came together to form what looked to be a face, I really didn't like the feeling in my gut and judging by the looks of terror and confusion all around me everyone else could feel the same thing I did. The face in the sky began to speak and with what it, or rather he, said it became apparent that my feelings of dread and anxiety were unfortunately well founded. "Greetings dear players! As of this moment, your lives are all in my hands." Just what the hell was going on? "If you'd all be so kind as to open your menus, you'll notice that you can no longer log yourselves out." I, like everyone around me, tapped the wrist device with my index and middle fingers and just as the figure said there was no logout option or rather it was there it was just blank and unuseable. "This, i can assure you, is no flaw. It was intentional, you cannot log out and no one from the outside will be able to shut down or remove the device, were such a thing attempted transmitter inside the device would discharge a microwave signal into your skull, effectively destroying your brain and ending your miserable, pathetic lives." At this the crowd of players gasped, horrified by the statement. "He's not for real, right?" "You can't do this to us!" "Please let me out, I have a family!" The man in the sky merely ignored the protests and continued: "Despite my warning, the families and friends of some of the players have attempted removing the Oracle helmet, quite an unfortunate decision, to say the least." The face chuckled before continuing. "As a result, the game now has around two hundred less players than when we began this little game. They've not only been deleted from Saedora, but alas the real world as well." A video screen showing different news channels appeared beside the face. "As you can see, international media outlets have a round-the-clock coverage of everything that happens in the game, that includes the deaths. At this point, it's safe to assume the likelihood of your helmet being removed is minimal at best. I hope this brings you a little comfort as you attempt to clear the game. It is also important to remember the following: There is no longer any way to revive a dead player within the game. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be deleted from the system forever and the helmet will simultaneously destroy your brain. Right now, you're gathered on the lowest level of Saedora. If you can get through the dungeon and defeat the boss, you may advance to the next level. Now, you're all probably wondering how to leave this world? The answer is quite simple, really. You must beat all one hundred levels, or floors if you will, of this game." At this the crowd of people burst into mass hysteria screaming and crying with only a few, like myself, staring quietly, terrified. A loud thunder clap silenced the people and the man continued. "Ah but fear not, for I was gracious enough to leave each and every one of you with a present; just look in your inventory space." A quick inventory search (well quick for me seeing as how I didn't have any gear yet) led me to finding an odd mirror object, selecting it the mirror materialized in my hand and all of sudden a bright light overtakes my vision once again before disappearing as quickly as it appeared, leaving me to look back into the mirror and at my reflection. I gasped; my hair had gone from the short red I'd picked out to my natural long light blonde locks, tangled bedhead and all, my eyes now to their natural ice blue with familier dark bags around them, and my skin now as sun deprived as it was in the real world. I looked towards the the man and woman from the shop: the guy 'Cloud' looked the same save for his hair being a little less spiky as before, his friend now had long dark brown hair and red-brown eyes; both were shocked to see their avatars suddenly disappear, but then so was I. "My gift to you is this: I have broken to your petty facades, your 'virtual avatars' and unmasked you for who you really are, no longer will you be able to hide who you truly are behind such superficial things." "Pretty lame gift if you ask me!" "And with that I bid you all adieu." The storm began to disperse and after clearing completely a section of the wall disappeared to form a doorway. everyone stood still and not a person uttered a word, the surrounding area was so quiet pin could have dropped and the echo would have been heard by all ten hundred-thousand of us, then suddenly the screams started, the weight of what had been said beginning to settle in our minds, players young and old crying, screaming, terrified of death of dying in this virtual world, of never seeing loved ones again. It took me a minute longer than most others to process what the figure had told us; the weight of his words slowly sinking into my mind as the realisation that I would probably never see my mom, my sisters or even my pets ever again caused me to sink to my hands and knees. I let out a scream of my own, full of more emotion and hopelessness than I could have ever imagined I possessed. I was going to die here, I was never going to see my family again, I'd never see my sisters grow up, play video games again. I was going to die here and there was nothing I could do.


	3. SOLDIER Saviour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Which Alice is saved by another player.

After taking a few minutes to calm myself down from a near panic attack state I attempted to find my way back to the shop I'd been occupying before the whole fiasco took place; good thing I had a constant map at my disposal because I had no sense of direction, like at all, like I have literally gotten lost more times than I could count... and I live on a Goddamn island, that should NOT be possible!

'The map had told me to go north, so north is where I shall go.'

And so I did, I traveled in the general north direction, though now with boredom allowing my mind to wander. I hadn't really taken the time before to simply stop and smell the roses, mainly due to that annoying chocobo guide Cho-Cho and hey as much as I liked chocobos I did not enjoy Cho-Cho, nothing against tutorials but that bird was just... kind of annoying.

This little trek back to square one was just what I needed to really get me to appreciate all the hard work that went into this game,I looked at everything around me, soaking up the beauty of this world that had been made completely of pixels and code; there were so many smells, sounds, and gorgeous colours in all different directions.

'Sure we're all trapped here and according to the ominous sky face, a good thirty people are already dead, but hey! You only get one chance to experience full body vr, right? I mean especially when you take into consideration that you can literally die he---re... NO!! Bad Alice bad! Why are you making light of this you fucking idiot?! What the actual hell?'

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During my absent minded sightseeing, I'd managed to get myself lost and was nowhere near the town as I once was, instead I had somehow made my way into an open field, with a bunch of pig creatures, who were armed, charging right at me.

'Shit, shit, shit!' 

I panicked; these pig monsters were level fives whilst I was a lowly level one and without a weapon or armour, no matter how much I wanted to I just couldn't get out of the way, it was as though my body had shut down. I closed my eyes and waited for the creature's axe to come down through my head...it never came.

"LOOK OUT!"

In a flash there was a man in front of me, blocking the axe with a plain albeit very big looking broadsword, somehow he managed to force the pig creature to stagger back before bring his sword down in a swift and effective slash causing the monster to disintegrate into a flurry of what looked like white crystal shards and disappear. I felt my legs shake before giving out, instead of attempting to find my footing I just sat there on the ground staring at nothing, I'd have died if not for this guy and I'd literally just started the game, I nearly died and it was only the first floor.

'HOW THE HELL CAN I CLAIM TO BE GOOD AT VIDEO GAMES WHEN I JUST MADE A NOOB MISTAKE?!' I couldn't help but scream at myself; in my own head of course, I'm not that crazy...yet.

It was Cloud who'd saved me and was now offering me his hand, pulling me out of my thoughts and helping me up, much to my embarrassment.

"You alright?"

"I uh... yeah... thanks. I-ah---w-w-what I mean is uhm" 

'Snap out of it you stuttering dumb ass!'

"If it weren't for you I'd be dead, so uhm yeah...thanks" I stammered beet red in the face, feeling like a total loser.

"Here, there's a town not to far from here, it's a lot like the starting area but there are better items, I'll message my friends to let them know I'll be a bit late."

"Oh um ok."

As we began to walk I figured I should make some small talk to make the time pass or at least make things feel less awkward, then again I didn't really talk to people much so what would I really say to him? I could tell him that I recognize him from somewhere, but like how? What would I say to initiate that conversation and not sound like a stalker?

Thankfully (or not) it was Cloud who started the conversation.

"Hey, if your nervous about being in higher level territory don't be, I'm more than strong enough for the both of us."

"O-o-oh um no, it's just that...well that... I'msorryIreallydon'twannalooklikeastalkertoyoubutisitpossiblethatImaybeknowyoufrom some...where...?" Oh god it all just blurted out so fast! God this is why I don't socialize, I end up looking like someone who should be in the mental ward.

Somehow Cloud must have understood the verbal diarrhea spilling from my mouth because he just chuckles before answering: "It's fine, you probably recognize me because I was one of the lucky hundred that got to beta test this game."

Right that's where I knew him from, god I must have watched the video that was taken during that test like a hundred and ten times, how did I not immediately recognize him?

"O-oh right, when I saw you in the shop I thought I'd seen you before."

"Ah right, you were the girl Tifa was looking at."

'CRAP he had noticed me.'

"O-oh I--- um, yeah I guess she noticed me trying to place your... face..."

I quickly looked away before he could see me blushing and regretting my decisions. If a hoard of monsters could come and kill me before I die of humiliation, that would just be great.

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It took us half an hour of wading through monsters to reach the next town; Cloud being the one with the weapon it naturally fell to him to protect us both, a fact that made me feel like a burden.

As soon as we reached the town's entrance I made sure to thank the man who could have just left me to die before attempting to take off. Nothing against Cloud but being around people I didn't know very well was just so very uncomfortable.

"ThankyousomuchCloud, Igottagetgoingnowthough, sotakeca---"

"Hold it." He said going through his inventory.

I froze. "Wh-what?"

Cloud gave me a small smile and held something out for me.

"Here, these are the items I started out with. I don't need them anymore and I can't just sell, that'd just be a waste."

I checked the items descriptions: the armour was called Assassin's Shadow and the weapon, a dagger, was named Assassin's Regret; both were handed out to players who got to participate in the beta and both were---according to the description boxes--- very uncommon, not outright rare as one would expect, but still quite a prize.

"You equip armour and weaponry either by simply putting it on like any other clothes, if your in combat, however, you can equip it by tapping the piece's icon in the inventory."

Cloud helped me put the items in my inventory and I equipped it without any hassle.

"Well? What do you think?"

I looked at the gloves then checked out as much as the outfit as I could and I had to say for armour that employed the Sailor Moon leotard under a miniskirt thing and high heeled shoes, this was actually, surprisingly enough, incredibly comfortable.

I also equipped the dagger, the oddly styled belt acting as a sheath as well as a quick grab storage for a potion and a couple of smaller items. I turned from Cloud so as not to potentially hit him and swung the dagger around a bit like I'd seen people do in video games and movies, testing the weight of my new weapon. I turned to him and grinned.

"This is great, thank you so much Cloud."

A quick wave to Cloud and I was gone, off to begin my adventure here in this odd virtual world, off to seize the moment and vanquish the virtual monsters that plagued this strange new world.


	4. Level Ups And Blackouts.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Which the past is brought up for the first time.

"Ah!! Shit, Riku wasn't kidding when he said monsters respawn quickly...OOOW!!"

After using the money I'd gotten from the unfinished tutorial on an excessive amount of cheap health potions I made my way out to the field Cloud and I had crossed to get to this town coming across a group deep in conversation, there was something oddly familiar about the trio, like I knew them from somewhere. Guided by my curiosity I decided to try and get close enough to figure out who they were and what they were talking about, only to be immediately spotted by the brown haired boy who then motioned his friends towards me giving me a clear look at their faces, more specifically the three pairs of bright blue eyes.

'Oh gods, no, please say it isn't so!' Oh but it was, I knew I'd recognized the three of them and I did and it was from somewhere I knew and dreaded: School.

"Hey Alice! You got trapped here too?!" Sora was the first to spot me and slowly his inquisitive look morphed into a large, friendly grin.

"Sora, hey! Yeah crazy stuff, huh?" I tried to make my voice sound more enthused by the meeting but I really couldn't, not with Riku's, the silver haired one's, eyes on me.

Sora, Riku, and Kairi were people I knew from school. Sora and Kairi were always nice to me, hell when we were way younger Sora had attempted to befriend me and that was despite all the ways I tried to make it obvious that I wanted nothing to do with him or his friends. Kairi, despite the horrible things I'd heard about her from some other girls at school, also went out of her way to act friendly with me which at the time blew me away because I'd only ever heard awful things about her from other girls.

Riku on the other hand was nothing like his friends; no he was cold, rude and was admittedly kinda hot, yeah not gonna lie I had the biggest crush on him back in middle school but that changed after I actually started hanging out with him and his friends and got to meet the real him. 

See shortly after my dad...leaving... my mom packed us up and moved me and my sisters to Destiny Islands where I didn't know a soul and yet despite being painfully shy I managed to quickly befriend a boy there who was pretty similar to me in a lot of ways but of course as all good things do, our relationship ended abruptly with him leaving and never speaking to me again leaving me utterly devastated. Soon after Sora and Kairi took it upon themselves to look out for me and attempted to integrate me into their friends group, that was nice for a while and then Riku ruined it by being a dick.

I mean I'll grant that back then I was probably very annoying to him considering the only other friends I had, made it no secret that they were infatuated with the guy and in all honesty would only hang out with me because I was hanging out with Riku's group so I guess in their eyes I was only their ticket to Riku (it would explain why they dumped my ass after I stopped hanging out with the trio). Still though, fuck Riku. 

Regardless my meeting the trio here had to have been the first time I'd seen them in a couple of years (I'm surprisingly good at avoiding people). I took a minute to check them all out starting with Sora who pretty much looked the same minus the braces he used to wear.

Sora was always a good-looking kid with his bright blue eyes and messy hedgehog hair but now he looked less like the lanky ass goofball and more like the sweet athletic kid he'd always been at heart. I notice myself staring and begin staring at the ground to hide the light blush that was beginning to form.

"Hey Al, you look kinda sick, you alright." Sora's concerned voice breaks me out of my thoughts

"Just tired and hot is all." I mumbled, keeping my eyes on the ground. "Getting to the level's second town wasn't easy ya know." 

"Right of course." Kairi chirped. Kairi was just as she'd always been, just with longer hair and more curves, Puberty had been extremely kind to her leaving her acne free skin and dazzling--- everything. Honestly I could see why the other girls always seemed to hate on her; perfect looks, two hot guys as her bestfriends and the beloved daughter of the Destiny Island Mayor, she pretty much had it all. I hate to say it but... in some ways I kind of hate her too but I hate myself even more for thinking it.

"Don't over do it, if memory serves you were never the most athletically inclined." Riku interjects himself into the conversation and immediately my mood begins to sour even more so.

I whip myself around to face him and give him a piece of my mind only to be confronted with my worst fear: that sonuvabitch is even hotter than he used to be. Here I am looking like a goddamn potato with messy hair and so far everyone I've come across has been extremely hot, how the hell is that even remotely fair? Regardless, I marched right up to Riku like a brave little girl and poked him right in the chest, ignored the fact that he was actually pretty built, put on my sternest voice and really let him have it.

"Listen here buddy, I may not have the same great athletic skills that you've had practically all your life but I do still have some 'lite gamer skills, alright golden boy? So back off!" and then I just walked away, only to look back and wave goodbye to Kairi and Sora. Riku shook his head and called out to me:

"Be careful 'lite gamer, the enemies spawn pretty quickly. You'll be overpowered and killed if you don't stock up on potions!"

"I'll be fine! I'm not so inept that I forgot to buy myself potions! What? You think I'm some kind of Noob?! Jeez!"

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And that brings us all the way back to here, where I am totally not fine and while not dying per say, I could still totally use some help. Two pig monsters were springing up for every one that I'd put down, granted all I had was a dagger but it was a rare dagger so that should have, at least, count for something. One such enemy had me pinned down to a rock with only my dagger keeping his spear at bay, the only hope I had at getting out of this with my head was to maneuver myself so that I could possibly kick the monster back long enough to at least get up and possibly turn the tide.

Using the metal plates on my gloves as shielding I brought my right arm up to block an incoming sword and was able to stagger a second pig soldier, all the while I was struggling to fend back the pig with the spear before finally managing to kick him back finally and roll dodge out of the way as the pig I'd staggered managed to catch his footing, now it was two against one and the odds were not in my favor but maybe I could even the field. Grabbing the potion in my belt's pocket and chugging it down quickly, I went after the first pig creature; considering he had the least amount of health I figured he'd be the easiest to kill, I gripped my dagger in an offensive position before rushing at him, making sure to block an incoming attack from the second piggy and thrust my dagger into his chest twisting it a little before quickly kicking the creature's disintegrating body off my blade and running at the remaining monster and about to land a slash when out of nowhere goblins, three or four of them, began to appear. I felt my heart drop deep into my stomach. This was going to take forever.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was done. I was done. The fight lasted an hour, AN HOUR! I was tired... no I was beyond tired, beyond exhausted even, but somehow I managed to make my way back into town, my legs the whole way back threatened to give out and leave me stranded wherever I'd fall and yet somehow despite all the odds I managed (barely) to make it back to the safe zone or rather a hair's width inside the town's entrance and had done so in what looked to be the middle of the night. The very minute I stepped through the invisible barrier signifying the safety zone I finally gave into the overwhelming exhaustion and fell; my body as heavy as a sack of rocks, passing out even before my body hit the ground.


	5. Girl Talks.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Which Alice makes some new friends.

Waking up the first thing I noticed was that I was no longer sleeping out on the street but rather in a bed. This worried me but also was kind of touching; on the one hand someone was kind enough to pick me up off the street when I was clearly in dire need of help, on the other however that could also mean that bad thing possibly could have been done to me, like real shady things.

Getting out of bed, I noticed my armor was clean and folded neatly on a chair beside my bed and that I was wearing some very basic underclothes: an oversized beige tunic that seemed like it would fit a male body better and oversized brown pants that just barely stayed up on me properly, the clothes reminded me of the default outfit. Grabbing my armour and putting it back on, I left the room and made my way down the stairs; the downstairs wasn't packed per say but there was still quite a crowd, I didn't have time to stick around for my saviour so I asked the inn keeper for a pen and paper to write a thank you note and left it up in the room just in case they came back.

Outside the inn I took a few minutes to figure out what I'd do first. 'Well I am pretty hungry after everything that happened, maybe I should use the money I amassed from my leveling up to get some breakfast today and---oh shit! Is that what my hair looks like? Yikes.' Catching a glimpse of my rats nest of a hairstyle I decided that before anything else I should at least fix that and went into my inventory to grab a ribbon I'd been saving to sell and use it to tie up my hair before marking down the closest restaurant on my map and walking off in the direction I was given. After a good ten minutes I was standing in front of 'The Beryl's Barrel' a name that confused me until I remembered that in an interview I'd watched the location designers decided to name each level of Saedora after  gemstones and minerals with the first level being named Beryl.

After paying for my meal I decided to spend the remainder of the day training out in the field, fighting the pig men now after leveling up yesterday would be significantly easier and I still had potions to spare after yesterday so why not, I mean it's not like any of us had anything better to do then train relentlessly to take out this level's boss and make our way through the 'tower'.

I continued to train and level up for the entire day, only taking small breaks to regain stamina and head back to town to eat lunch always immediately coming back out to fight and I wasn't just taking on the pig men anymore, no I was fighting electric slimes, goblins and cactuar now. By the time the day had ended I had amassed more than enough Munny to buy out a room at the inn for a week and a half. I spent my days taking up minor quests and my night in the inn with the occasional break away from the pattern with night only quests. After about two months I had quite a bit of loot and had leveled up to around level fifteen. During an escort mission to another town I'd overheard some people in town talking about a group of dedicated players who were getting ready to take on the boss, they were looking for more people to help in battle and would be heading out tomorrow to strategize outside the dungeon. I figured this would be the best chance to put my skills to the test and made plans of my own to head out to the meeting place, but for the moment I desperately needed sleep.

The very minute I opened my eyes I made sure to head out to the different stores and pack only the essentials for the trip ahead, at the restaurant I'd been attending for the last week almost religiously I bought food and packed it all in making sure It would, hopefully, last not just the full day trip but also the whole of the dungeon.

As soon as I felt ready I was off, making my way through the fields of monsters avoiding what I could and slaughtering what I couldn't, soon after I met up with a group of girls named Yuna, Rikku and Paine who'd convinced me to walk with them as they were making the same trip as me in hopes of acquiring some rare loot from this floor's boss. Rikku was incredibly energetic and talkative, Paine was quite and seemed kinda cold, and Yuna was somewhere in the comfortable middle: sweet and eager to learn more about me, as was Rikku, but she was't as pushy and seemed to be a little quieter like Paine. I honestly think I liked Yuna the most because of her neutrality in that regard; Rikku was intimidating because she was so loud and pushy and Paine was intimidating in the opposite way but I could at least appreciate her sense of sarcasm.

"So Avalon, where ya from anyways?"

"Destiny Islands actually."

Yuna suddenly looked a bit more interested by this.

"Oh? Would you happen to know a guy by the name Titus?"

"Titus? Oh man I don't think there's a single person on the islands who wouldn't know him, I mean he's a pretty friendly guy plus the main land is sorta small or at least compared to other towns it probably is; I don't know, I haven't really ever actually left my world before, but It's still a smallish place where practically everyone knows one another so yeah...plus Tidus is like a sports star there so he's pretty popular."

What I decided to leave out was that Titus was quite possibly the only person I really considered to be something of a friend, he was the only one who didn't always feel like trying to get me to smile whenever I saw him and was really the only person I could relate to on a familial degree due to well not having a dad, well okay he has a dad but from what Tidus says about him, he might as well not have one, I didn't ever really get to know Jecht very well considering Tidus made damn sure that if I ever came over it was brief or was when his father wasn't home which admittedly was most of the time seeing as how Jecht was also a big sports star but like professionally. 

Really I didn't ever understand it until I met him face to face; the way he treated me was very different from how he'd treat his own kid: with me he was friendly if not obviously drunk, with Tidus he was outright verbally abusive to the point where Tidus seemed to have nothing but contempt for his father, than out of nowhere Jecht vanished, Tidus' mother killed herself soon after and then a man named Auron came in to take care of Tidus.

It all had happened so fast that I don't think anyone could have ever seen it coming, after an off world vacation Tidus and Auron had went on Tidus stopped hanging out with me and I was friendless from than on.

I won't lie it was pretty upsetting at first but I got over not having him around.

"So ah, Yuna, if-if you don't mind my asking: how exactly do you know Tidus?"

At this Rikku began to smirk in a mischievous sort of way and Yuna, the poor girl, blushed as red as a tomato.

"Yeah Yunie! What is your's and Tidus' relationship?"

"Ah well...um we--we're actually dating, long distance. We met when he and his caretaker Auron vacationed in Spira for a few months."

Ah, well that certainly explained quite a bit.

We walked on for about an hour chatting (Rikku mostly) with Paine interjecting here and there to make sarcastic remarks and answering a few of my questions, it took a bit but I truly felt like I was really warming up to the trio and I was slowly getting used to Rikku's over abundant energy

Really if I'd met these girls sooner I might have been tempted to befriend them...although I'd probably never actually do it. Just as I was about ask Rikku something about her Al Bhedian heritage Paine drew her weapon, a sword, and got into an offensive position, the rest of us looked around before doing the same with Rikku summoning red dagger-esque blades and Yuna summoning dual crossbows, it was getting dark and all around our group enemies were beginning to rise up out of nowhere.

The creatures in question looked looked like skulls with fiery red-orange eyes, blueish purple fire coating them, and worst of all they spat fireballs. I'd overheard players in town talk about how different the hostiles were at night but had never seen it for myself. Regardless there was no time to dwell on that seeing as how the skulls were coming right towards us!

Paine was the one shouting directions at the rest of us, instructing Yuna to shoot at the further ones while she, Rikku and I hack and slashed our way through the closest of them.

"We have to get away from these things and find a haven!"

Rikku was right, if we didn't get away now we'd be here all night.

"Yuna! Use your specialty skill!" Paine instructed.

Yuna nodded, her eyes filled with a bright light, in one fluid motion her two crossbows became one and she began shooting off stream after stream of arrows killing all advancing enemies in one blow. It was truly an amazing sight to see.

Rikku grabbed mine and Yuna's hands and ran with us in tow after Paine who'd ran ahead to scout out a 'haven'.

It was around a good ten minutes of full speed running before we made it to a 'haven' and now that we were safe I had just one question:

"So, uh, what even is a 'haven'?"

Paine was the one who answered:

"Havens are small areas littered throughout the fields with markings carved into them that keep monsters away from them, they make for excellent camping places for far away quests with a time limit apparently. My last group used them a couple times during our quests."

I helped the girls set up tents and bedding and ended up sleeping in Rikku's tent with her, the two of us weren't ready to fall asleep yet so for the most part Rikku had been teaching me Al Bhed: "just in case we ever get out and meet up in the real world" as she'd put it. After laughing at my poor attempts of speaking the language, much to my very apparent embarrassment, before reassuring me that I wasn't actually doing that bad, Rikku and I sat in silence all the while thanking whatever deities we believed in for having the foresight to place our tent as far from Yuna and Paine so as not to wake them up.

"So Avalon, what was your relationship with Tidus huh? I promise I won't tell Yunie if you don't want me to."

Was Rikku insinuating that she thought Tidus and I were---? The thought made me shake my head laughing.

"Eww God no, trust me it wasn't anything like that, I mean I loved Tidus don't get me wrong but it was more like he was the brother I never got to have. Trust me, we were to close for there to be anything romantic, besides I'm waaay too much of a potato child for anyone to be interested in me like that."

At that Rikku grinned mischievously.

"Oh I dunno, I mean I kinda like the way you look."

I blushed and sputtered like an old fire engine.

"I uh- well um- I mean Thank y-you. I'm ah I'm gonna get some sleep we do have to get up pretty early so y'know."

"Yeah me too, Night."

"N-n-night."

At that both Rikku and I laid down and simply fell asleep, eager for the day ahead.


	6. Old Wounds.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which an unpleasant memory is forcibly unburied.

The sky was still dark when Yuna came in to wake Rikku and I up, after letting us get our stuff together she had Rikku go help Paine who was working on taking down the tents while Yuna and I worked on cooking breakfast together. Breakfast went by uneventfully mainly due to the early morning rise but I think mostly it was that there was really nothing to talk about, we ate in silence before packing up what remained of the camp and moving out. 

The last stretch of our journey was upon us; the four of us could see the ruins of what looked to be an old arena, this was the ruins that lead to the dungeon? And... wait that couldn't be, no it wasn't, was it? IT WAS! As our little group got closer to the ruins a familiar head of blond came into sight, well a couple of them honestly one being Cloud who was sitting amongst a group with Tifa, a brunette, and a black haired guy but that wasn't who'd caught my attention, no that honor would have to go to the other blond.

While I couldn't see his face I knew just from the back of his hair who it was and I did not want to face him not here not now, not while the wounds were still fresh for me.

"Hey, t-thanks f-f-for h-helping me get here b-but I think I'm gonna go see if I can't find my friends in this crowd." A blatant lie, I don't have any friends but I figured it would be better to lie than to face Tidus and have my nonexistent heart get ripped a new one.

"Oh are you sure? You wouldn't be imposing or anything." Yuna was sweet, but I knew that when they realised Tidus was here they'd want to hang out with him and I mean yeah I was over what happened in the past, sure I never tried to befriend anyone after he basically started giving me the cold shoulder and sure I was now attempting to avoid him at all costs and yeah I guess the more I thought about that lying backstabbing son of a marlboro the more I my clenched my fists to the point where it made my knuckles white... BUT NOPE TOTALLY OVER IT!!

"Hey Yunie, look who it is!" As Yuna and Paine turned to where Ricky was pointing I took off to sit somewhere I wouldn't be spotted by any of them.

I sat down and listened to another black haired man talking down in the center of the ruins, he introduced himself as Angeal the Guild Master of SOLDIER and began a speech to get us all pumped before we came up with a plan.

"As you are all probably aware those of us who beta tested were unable to make it past the boss. That was mainly due to time constraints and possibly due to lack of manpower, but with all of us here I'd say we have a very good chance of at the very least making to the next level..."

"Hey Alice, It's been a while!"

'SONUVA---! NO! HOW?!' How did Tidus see me? I slunk off before he would have even known I was here, so how could he have known I was here unless...

"Rikku told me I'd find you around here." OH OF COURSE SHE DID!!

"You alright? you look depressed."

Wait, what? I didn't look that depressed did I? I mean why would I? I was completely over his abandoning me, I was over him leaving me behind for whatever it was he considered better things, better things than me like everyone else I'd ever opened up to. This was just something I was used to, I'd gone through all this before; like the Riku fangirls, I thought they were my friends but in the end they only really befriended me because I lived next to Riku, they only hung out with me because I was useful, because I could get close to that silver haired jerk.

Was it the same with Tidus? Did he only befriend me to make himself feel better, sure his parents were kinda shitty but at least he was popular or well at least he had friends. I was just some loser geek that wasn't really even a native to the Island; sure neither was Kairi but at least her dad was the mayor. Was that why after Tidus got back from Spira he began to avoid me, because he'd only seen me as a joke, because he was me as someone to discard after he got to make himself feel better, was Tidus using me this whole time?

These questions and the sense of self doubt made me very sad and very angry, angrier than I'd ever been before and I wanted, no needed, to blow off some steam. I needed to get away from Tidus and hurt something, hurt it really, really bad because I was going to go crazy if I didn't.

" Hey Alice." Huh, Riku? What's he doing here and more importantly why's he giving Tidus the death glare?

"Erm hey Riku, wh-what're you doing here?"

'Obviously you idiot he's here because him, Sora and Kairi wanted to help take down the boss and explore the game further, duh.' That was something I'd originally admired about Riku, his sense of wanderlust and adventure was practically unmatched by others on the island.

"I was wondering if you wanted to group up with Sora, Kairi and I. We could use a fourth and Sora made the point that you're really the only person we know here." And he was still kind of glaring at Tidus who was glaring right back. Ah who cares I just wanted far, far away from Tidus and these dark ugly thoughts.

" Yeah sure, I'd seriously love that Riku." Was there any real emotion in my voice anymore? I don't really know and I can't say I cared to much one way or another.

And so I made a point to walk away from the man that caused me so much pain. For once I was able to leave someone behind and as much as I hated myself for thinking this : it felt good to have someone else to be on the receiving end.

Was I in the right for shunning Tidus? Maybe not but why should I care when it just felt so right, but I couldn't think about that right now, not with a boss battle looming over head. Right now I needed to focus on the task ahead and to do that knowing the task ahead would actually be pretty helpful.

"So Riku, I didn't really get to hear what we were doing, wanna clue me in?"

"Angeal's got everyone setting up squads for different purposes, you'll be with Sora, Kairi and I as a support team."

"And that would entail?"

"Taking out whatever grunts the boss summons so that the main squad: lead by Angeal, Genesis and my cousin Sephiroth, can focus on taking down the boss and getting us to the next level, well that and healing any fallen players you can get to on time."

"Oh, I can do that."

Riku was silent for the rest of our short little walk down to the center where Kairi and Sora waited for us.

"Alright!" Why th was Kairi so cheerful?

"We all ready to go?"

Sora, Riku and I nodded and were about to head in with everyone else when Sora spoke up.

"Oh, I almost forgot; group invites!"

Sora opened up his menu and sent us all group invites, which we accepted without hesitation.

"Alright team, let's beat the boss!"

Kairi and Sora's enthusiasm was infectious and I soon found myself exuding their can do spirit.

"Alright!"

Riku simply smirked, keeping up that cool give no fucks attitude he was infamous for back home and I could feel my heart flutter at the sight, old feelings really did die hard.

And with that we entered the dungeon.


	7. Boss Battles And Near Death Experiences.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which our brave heros take on the first boss.

Making our way through the dungeon proved to be slightly more difficult than was expected, nothing that we couldn't handle, especially with the leaders of SOLDIER leading us, but it was still quite a journey, climbing staircase after staircase until it felt as though we had ascended into the heavens themselves. By the time we'd made it to the boss room nearly everyone who'd signed on was thoroughly exhausted and we'd all decided that it would be appropriate to take a break which we really only got to take because Zack, the black haired guy Cloud was sitting with, had vouched on behalf of the rest of us though something tells me Angeal at least would have advocated for a short break even if Zack hadn't spoke up, he seemed like a good guy.

I tried to get a feel for Angeal's cohorts based on conversations I'd heard them having throughout our little dungeon crawling experience; Genesis seemed to be an elegant and well spoken auburn haired man who just seemed to exude an air of superiority and a sense of possible narcissism, aside from that though he seemed to genuinely want to help people get out, at least I think he did, why else would he be here right now in the front lines if not? Sephiroth on the other hand was a different story, he was someone I couldn't get a read on and I often prided my ability to judge a person's character correctly based on little to no information, but I got nothing when it came to Sephiroth; he seemed quite and almost stoic most of the time but than there were glimmers of a much more friendly and warm but they seemed to be reserved for Angeal and Genesis, what I did know about Sephiroth was that he was a tall older guy with waist length silver hair and the coolest cyan cat-like eyes, but that was it.

After a short lunch break we were back at it, Sephiroth had the honor of opening the door to the boss room; I knew I'd seen this guy from somewhere but I couldn't put my finger on it. Pushing the thought out of my mind I, like everyone else, took to a defensive position the minute we made it through the door ready for whatever horrors came our way.

Only, nothing was happening. We all began looking around, frantic to understand what was going on. Genesis,Angeal and Sephiroth were in front murmuring amongst each other just as confused as the rest of us , I'd heard Genesis mention something about this not happening in the beta making me realize that it was most likely a newly added feature. Sora was the first to speak up:

"I-is the game broken? Did we break the game somehow?!"

Kairi and I looked at each other, confusion written quite clearly on our faces.

"Maybe the boss is just out at a late lunch."

Not my best attempt at humor but I had the desperate need to lighten the mood for some reason and it kinda just flew out of my mouth. The others who'd heard me turned to face me, making me sheepish.

"Sorry."

Sephiroth was about to speak but was cut off by a loud resounding smash causing all of us to nearly break our necks in a hurried attempt to look at the cause of the noise.

A girl about my age with very dark skin and short stylish black hair had punched the door behind us, a fierce enraged look in her chocolate brown eyes.

"SON OF A BITCH, THE DOOR SHUT AND LOCKED BEHIND US!"

The girl's words caused a lot of us to panic, many of us scared we'd be trapped in the first boss' room until we either died or went crazy. I tried to keep my thoughts straight and acting on a hunch I had while thinking about all the video games I'd played in the past I walked over shyly to Angeal who had been given the key cube from Sephiroth.

"E-excuse me sir? C-could I, possibly, get the cube from you? I, uh, have a theory I'd like to test out."

Angeal handed it to me with a small nod and I immediately ran to the far end of the room where a small post with an indent in the shape of the key stood in front of a large stained glass window, my hunch had been correct. Realizing that if I placed the key in the slot and turned it the boss would no doubt appear I signaled the large crowd of people over to me, pushed the key into the slot and, pushing my social anxieties back, I explained:

"O-once I turn this handle the boss is sure to appear so make sure you're all in your groups and that your prepared to fight because the minute it shows its ugly face there will be no going back."

At this I turned the handle on the cube key, the post began to sink into the floor as the ground shook, a near ear piercing roar shattered what silence there had been. A giant fell through a hole that'd opened up in the middle of the ceiling and once again we were treated to a loud resounding roar, this time however it was much louder, more ear shattering, and far more terrifying. This marked the entrance of Draegoth-Zen: a skeletal pig warrior nearly the size of the room and definitely something I'd be seeing in my nightmares for a few nights.

My grip on my dagger tightened and I did my best to hold back my fear as the minion monsters started pouring from hidden doors in the walls, the various squads held down their designated positions taking down streams of goblins all while the main group SOLDIER focused on taking down Draegoth-Zen. Somewhere in the massive fight Kairi and I'd gotten separated from the guys, backed up to a wall and were surrounded by goblins, Kairi grabbed me and pushed me behind her using what I'd come to learn was a keyblade, a very unique weapon, and used it to quickly obliterate the first wave advancing on us before grabbing my hand and allowing me the leverage needed to kick a few of them hard enough they poof. The two of us glance at each other, a small nod is given to acknowledge our bit of comradery before we're forced away from each other in a roll dodge.

No time to even breath as a wave of goblins descends on me, one of them maging to knock my dagger from my hand and I'm stuck wrestling for my life, wrestling with the goblins currently choking the life out of me. I began to see black overtake my vision and hear a constant beeping noise to alert me that my health is in the red. Suddenly the goblins surrounding me vanish out of nowhere and finally the one strangling me is beheaded. I'm pulled to my feet, my arm draped around the neck of my saviour as I'm given a potion, a familiar face beaming down at me in an almost somber manner as I drink it. I look towards the mop of dirty blond hair and smile back in a similar manner.

"Tidus." I manage to cough out as he keeps me upright running to get us to safety hacking and slashing at the few enemies in our path.

" Aw c'mon Al I'd never let my best friend die." He grins like he thinks I'm not still mad at him.

"Yeah some friend, You know ya really don't just get to treat me like I'm nothing after disappearing for months on end." I bark at him managing to push myself away from him, the health potion taking effect and giving me back my strength.

I shake my head trying to hold back every emotion from flooding out in the middle of the fight.

"But let's be real, now really isn't the time, I need to get my dagger back and you need to get back to Yuna and the others. We'll talk after the battle, if and when we make it to the next level seek me out."

When was I ever this mature and logical and why wasn't I like this when I wasn't it a life or death situation? Regardless Tidus made sure to cut down any and all goblins advancing on me while I made my way to my dagger. The minute it was back in my hand Tidus had gone to find his group and help them out with their goblin issue. I looked toward the boss; SOLDIER was close, so damn close, only a few more minutes of this and we would be able to leave.

slashing and hacking at the monsters around me as I attempted to find Sora, Kairi and RIku I heard a player scream and looked up only to be greeted with the sight of a player being flung through the air, realizing it was the black girl from earlier and that she would be in serious trouble if the goblins making their way towards her managed to gang up on her, I made a mad dash to get to her first before sliding on my knees at the last stretch and pulling out a potion I'd equipped to my belt I tossed it at her, she caught it with ease and allowed me to pull her up off the ground as I got myself up and I handed her back her sword that had landed beside her.

"Thanks, after this I seriously owe you one."

"Not necessary, I'd just prefer to keep as many of us alive as possible."

She nodded. "Agreed."

"Name's Avalon, yours?"

"Vivency is my username."

She looked at me thoughtfully before smiling and continuing.

"But you can just call me Viv."

I smiled back before she and I set to work slashing up goblins left and right making our way back to our respective squad members with the unspoken promise that we would meet again after this.

It had to have been close to an hour by now, everyone had to have been getting tired by now and yet it seemed like we would never end this fight and then out of nowhere---

"WWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!"

Those of us still remaining broke out into loud and joyful cheering as the hostiles began disappearing. The loot was dispensed equally among the remaining warriors before the three heads of SOLDIER held a small service for the twenty or so lost to the battle, Angeal gave a speech about bravery and what it means to be a hero, Sephiroth gave a few words honoring the dead saying that their sacrifice was not in vain and would not be forgotten and Genesis had decided to recite a line from a poem my mother had once read to me when I was a child called Loveless, I recognized it as the last line from the fourth act and even mouthed it along with him:

"Legend shall speak. Of sacrifice at world's end. The wind sails over the water's surface. Quietly, but surely."

From his small part in the vigil I could tell Genesis was someone who, although possibly rather vain, prefered to not say very much, he did however seem to hold some love for the poem considering this wasn't the first time I'd overheard him reciting it throughout our little dungeon crawling experience.

But that wasn't important right now. After we had taken a moment of silence for our fallen we all began rushing for the door that had appeared underneath the stained glass window and made our way out into the new land:

 

THE CINNABAR KINGDOM!!


	8. Down At The Water.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Alice makes a new friend.

The door leading into Cinnabar dropped us right in the middle of a rather large town in the middle of the night and after leaving the group and saying my goodbyes to Riku, Kairi and Sora I was off to explore and find an inn and with any luck continue to avoid Tidus.

The very first building I'd managed to come across had been an inn and after haggling with the innkeeper to bring the price down, I secured myself a room, undressed to my panties (because when you don't have pajamas you just have to make do and I prefered to sleep without them anyway so whatever), and simply fell asleep.

When I woke up and took a look at my personal calendar it had been a full day since I'd fallen asleep, guess I was a lot more tired from the boss fight than I'd thought. Nevertheless I groggily flopped my way out of bed and down the stairs.

Breakfast was simple and cheap seeing as how I still had food, I just needed water. After eating I made my way to the women's bath area, thankfully the bath area was surprisingly empty, I stripped down and sunk into the steaming water

I spent the first few nights here getting a feel for the layout of the new land before jumping straight into questing and well here I was now in the middle of forest far from any safe zones to help an NPC find their sword that they "dropped" in an area that was swarming with enemies and I wasn't doing the best with keeping said enemies off my ass; my dark armour combined with the hot sun beating down on me was distracting me enough that I was more concerned with keeping the sweat out of my eyes than I was with actually focusing on the tiny angry looking goblin/ogres swarming me.

Pinned to the ground with sweat making my eyes sting, I form a plan quickly and with every ounce of desperation running through my body I manage to force the creatures off me and find my footing before I clutch my dagger and begin slashing and hacking my way through each and every single one around me. I grabbed the sword with my free hand and tucked it into my inventory before running out of the forest at full speed not wanting to stick around any longer just in case the monsters respawn, it's only when I'm out of the creatures range that I stop to catch my breath and pull a potion out of my armour's pocket, I look at my health only to realise that my health is dangerously close to the red zone. I use the potion and fall to my knees, I was uncomfortably close with the possibility of death once again and yet through my own sense of self preservation, strength and smarts I had managed to save myself and it felt good, sticky and hot, but good.

Making my way back to the town I began to think about what I wanted to do today, if the last quest proved anything to me it was just way too hot to really put a hundred percent into any quests I'd pick up, I take the sword back to the NPC and finish the quest. It's almost noon by now so I take the chance to stop at a small restaurant to tie my hair back now that it's been soaked in sweat and eat like it's my last hour alive, during which I overhear someone talking about how there was some kind of lake or something that some guy's been frequenting, I could definitely stand to cool down and really what was the harm in finding someplace to swim on such an unbearably hot day, so there might be some people there, but so what? I mean I can't avoid crowds forever right? Well I mean I could but that would involve never again leaving my house and I really don't think my mom would approve of that. I take a moment to change into something cooler; a loose,flowy, off shoulder, yellow top and a pair of overall shorts with a pair of strappy sandals.

Using my map I find my way to this lake, pond or whatever and upon arriving find it to be empty save for one person, a man by the look of it and he's fishing. I'm a little disappointed by this; it means I won't be getting to swim, at best I'd probably get to dip my feet in, not that it really matters anyways seeing as how it's become so much cooler in the late afternoon especially with all the trees surrounding the area. I look at the guy sitting down at the docks and a feeling of nostalgia hits me, I used to love fishing with my father when he was still around but I haven't even so much as looked at my old rod since he's been gone. I make up my mind and approach the man, I tap him on the shoulder to get his attention and when he looks at me I take in his appearance. The boy's about my age maybe a year older at the oldest, he's also extremely handsome; flawless pale-ish skin, big, bright blue eyes and cool jet black hair that looks so soft it makes me want to reach out and touch it, I realize I'm staring and snap myself out of it so as not to come of as creepy or rude, using my smallest voice so as not to potentially scare the fish I speak.

"M-mind if I...if I watch you?"

He looks confused but nods nevertheless.

I smile and nod back in thanks before sitting down beside the stranger cross legged

He's not much of a talker but I don't think I mind all that much, after all fishing does require a lot of quiet and patience. When I was younger this would have probably been my dream date destination, at this point however I'd given up on dating but that was probably for the best.

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Nearly everyday for more than half a month since our first meeting I've been coming back to this clearing in an attempt to meet with the black haired boy again and we did meet up, quite a bit in fact.

I'd finished up a quest board job as quickly as I could and upon checking the time began to rush down some food as I made my way back to the fishing spot. As soon as I was in within range of the dock I saw that same head of black sitting where he always does when we're here, I quietly took my spot and sat beside him.

"Hello again Noct."

""Hey Al."

This was pretty much the extent of our interactions: a quick and quiet greeting before we sit on the pier for what seemed to be hours, little is said and little movement is made until Noct suddenly cries out:

""AH! I think I got something!"

"Hurry! Reel it in!"

"I-I'm trying! GAH! It's certainly a fighter and a big one at that! H-hey help me out here! I'm gonna fall in!!"

"W-what?! Just what do you expect me to do?!"

"Grab a hold of me and pull on me while I reel in the fish!"

"O-oh alright!"

I grabbed a hold of Noct's waist blushing madly and began to pull back on him as he attempted to reel, the fish on the hook fighting as hard as it could to stay in the water and maybe even pull us in. Noct struggles to keep the line from breaking while I struggle to keep us on dry land until suddenly...

SNAP! THUNK!

"A-ah!!"

"Shit!"

And there we were lying on the pier, or rather I was lying on the pier and Noct was lying on top of me. After maneuvering himself so that he was no longer on me Noct reaches out his hand to help me up which I graciously take. The two of us are so red by now we might as well have been tomatoes.

"S-sorry" He manages to sputter out.

"N-no i-it's f-fine." As long as no one saw us it's not too big a deal.

"U-um th-the fish, what happened to it?"

Noct bends down to inspect his rod and curses.

"Shit, that scaley bastard stole my lure!"

My eyes widen to the size of dinner plates.

"Wha- seriously!?!"

"And it was my best one too. Dammit!"

I'm not sure as to what I should say. Noct takes a minute to look at the clock on his map and sighs.

"I gotta go or my friends might just send a search party after me."

"O-oh okay. See you again tomorrow night?" I give a weak, hopeful smile and Noct smiles back at me with even less enthuthiasm.

"Maybe. I-if I'm not busy. here I'll friend you so we can stay in touch."

"A-ah sure, that sounds great."

And with that he leaves but I stay behind for a few more minutes just staring out into the water. I after some careful thinking I begin to walk back.


	9. Girls' day in Cinnabar.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Alice goes to a spa.

I woke up early, not as early as before but early to my usual sleep schedule and rushed to eat and dress myself before running at full speed to the des point I set on my map; I was on a mission, a very important, top secret mission. I had to make sure I was the first person here, it took me days of carefully saving and slaughtering to rack up enough gold and I wasn't about to lose this opportunity just because of one stupid fluke like not waking up fast enough.

Reaching the entrance I slammed the door open and raced inside.

The owner of the shop greeted me with a big smile.

"Avalon how're you doing?"

I smiled grinned back as happy as fat chocobo. "Doing great Chuck, is that lure still for sale?"

"Yeah actually, you got the money?"

"Of course my man and let me just say you have no idea how much hell I went through to get the required amount!"

"Haha, I bet."

This was it, I would have what I'd been working for, for like half a month now. This was a top of the line lure that was worth more than seven thousand gold and money like that didn't just happen, but I felt bad about Noct losing his to fish and I just couldn't help myself; I have to say though, this is the first time I'd ever stepped into a tackle store since... no I didn't want to remember that, it was best that I push those thoughts to the back and let myself forget about them, besides I should be thinking about Noct and the look that's gonna be on his face when he sees the amazing lure I managed to wrangle for him.

I quickly messaged Noct to see if he'd be going back to the fishing hole tonight, I didn't want to wait any longer then I already had to give him the very thing I'd worked my ass off to get.

As soon as I exited the building I came face to face with Viv who looked just as surprised to see me as I was to see her.

"Oh Alice, fancy meeting you here."

"Viv, Doing better I hope."

"Sure am, even got myself a party."

"Nice."

"I was actually just about head out to the spa in this town and do some shopping after I make some quick munny with the loot I got with my party, wanna come with?"

I blinked a few times in surprise, why would she want to go to a spa with me, she didn't even know me.

"Uh, sure. I guess."

"Awesome, I was hoping I'd get a chance to pay you back for saving my hide back in the boss fight and besides that, I actually don't know any other girls here."

"Makes sense."

After she'd sold off her junk we were off, our first stop: the spa. 

Viv and I filled our long walk with chatter, useless dumb chatter about everything and nothing though nothing was said about our lives from before, it seemed like something Viv didn't like talking about. 

As we got closer to the spa someone began calling out to me.

"Alice, hey! You and your friend wanna hang out while we have some time in the spa?"

And I recognized the voice right away.

"Hey Kairi, sure if you don't mind, Viv you in?"

I looked to Viv for her answer, if she declined then I would too. Viv smiled.

"Ah sure, the more the merrier, right?"

"So hey Kairi?"

"Hmm?"

"Where are Sora and Riku?"

"Oh, they went somewhere else to have their own day off."

"Ah, makes sense." 

And with that we made our entrance. 

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Back in the real world I was never one for being pampered or at least didn't really have the time or money for it, well save for one time: after saving up for a couple months and managing to get a babysitter for the day, me and my mom went a spa once and really only once, it was nice, it was relaxing; this moment with Viv and Kairi really did remind me of that, I genuinely appreciated it. After going through the average spa experience of massages, mud baths and face masks, but then came what the npcs claimed was the spa's biggest draw: The aromatherapy hot spring 'bath'.

The three of us traded in our plain white bathrobes for plain green towels, kairi and I had our hair up; mine in dual braids hanging over my shoulders and Kairi wearing hers in a side ponytail. the only problem now was-

"Um, so like do we wear the towel in or is there like a swimsuit or do we just..." I really didn't want to continue.

Viv grinned in an odd mischievous way as she answered. 

"Hey don't worry about it Al, we're all girls here it's not like neither of us haven't already seen a woman's naked body."

I mean... yeah ok, fair enough I suppose.

Once Viv, Kairi and I got settled in the bath the 'real fun' began: Truth or Dare but with a twist!

"So basically instead of picking truth or dare we ask each other questions and should one of us not choose to answer or take more then ten seconds to answer they have to do a dare of the asker's own choice and it has to be something fairly humiliating."

"Sounds like fun!"

Viv was truly devious, but it looked like Kairi was into it so why not, I mean what's the worst that could happen, right?

"Yeah okay, why not."

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This had turned out to be more humiliating than I thought it would, after a couple rounds that started off pretty innocent with questions like: who would you save out of a burning building and who was your best friend in elementary school, we had moved on to the more 'provocative' questions.

"Okay Alice: So out of all the guys or girls here who do you have a crush on? Answer honestly now~."

The question hit me hard and made me beet red and my face go really hot. I mean, did I really have a crush on anyone here? Did I even really find anyone attractive in this game?

"Uhm Viv, I don't...I don't know anyone here enough to even consider something like that."

"Oh pu-lease, you don't need to know someone's personality to start crushin' on people, you just need to know that you like their body. I mean it's not like I'm asking you who you see yourself havin' a family with ten to twenty years down the road, just who you think is the most attractive."

"She's right you know. Come on Al, I promise whatever gets said or done here will stay here. What about Riku? I alway thought there was something between the two of you."

That caught me off guard. Kairi thought there was actually some chance of me and Riku becoming an item? The thought made me laugh out loud, which I immediately regretted because I seriously hate my laugh.

"Seriously Kairi? I-uh don't know if it escaped you and Sora but Riku didn't really seem to like me very much, in fact I'd go so far as to say the man hates my very existence."

Kairi's face scrunched up in confusion as though I'd just told the poor girl I married a heartless for the insurance.

"What?"

"Nothing it's just... You don't really believe that, do you Alice? I mean I know Riku's not the best with expressing his emotions but..."

Kairi cut herself off unsure of how to continue or probably wasn't sure she should even be telling me any of this.

"Ah you know what, forget it but trust me when I say: Riku isn't as much of a jerk as he makes himself out to be, I mean he was the one that decided to make you our fourth party member for the boss fight."

"What?! But he said it was because you guys didn't know any of the other players."

"Really? Well that's just untrue, Sora's twin cousins Roxas and Ventus are here in this game, as is my sister Namine and our cousin Xion, also last time I checked Ven was grouped up with his friends from school: Aqua and Terra."

Wait so Riku lied to me? Why would he lie to me?

Viv cut in before I had a chance to say anything else.

"Not that all of this isn't interesting, because believe me it is, buuuut Alice hun, You got a question here that seriously needs answering!"

"E-eh, what?!"

"Come one spill, There has to be someone that's caught your eye."

"O-oh well I mean... y-yeah I guess..." The very thought of it made me blush but I guess the more I really thought about it the more it made sense: I had a crush on Noct Garr and I really just couldn't wait to see him again.

"W-well I guess there is one guy, I-I met him a month ago a-and despite speaking very r-rarely but he r-really m-made an impression on m-me ...."

"Oh ho?" A devious smirk began to blossom on Viv's face. "Do tell."

"T-there's nothing t-to tell, w-we just meet at the pier a-and I watch him f-fish."

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The three of us must have been in there for quite a while, how long I'm not sure and I really don't care but by the time we were out, dressed and ready to go shopping my gem dinged, the sound making me jump. Kairi and Viv laughed.

"Al, it's okay you just got a message. Just go into your menu and tap on messages."

I did what Kairi told me to and realized, much to my absolute joy, that Noct had messaged me back.

 

My eyes went huge at that and I began furiously typing.

 

"Okay sorry girls change of plans, I gotta go now. Bye!!!!" And with that said I made a mad dash to the fishing hole as fast as my legs would carry me, leaving Kairi and Viv in the dust.


	10. Of Fishing And Friends.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Noct and Alice exchange gifts.

I rushed like crazy to get to the clearing but as soon as I was close enough I slowed down to a slow walk so as not to make it look like I was desperate to see him, that would just make me look weird.

"Hey Noct."

Noct looks over his shoulder and at first smiles before giving me a look of concern.

"Hey Avalon! You alright? You look seriously...winded."

I wince slightly as he mentions my current state.

"U-uh y-yeah. I, uh, just g-got back from a mission, you know how it can get."

To prevent my further humiliation of myself I decided to give Noct the lure I'd slave away to buy.

"Um, so you know how, like you said you brought me something? Well I also kinda, maybe----totally bought you something and.... Well here it is, I hope you like it."

The words came rushing out of my mouth faster than I would have liked them to, not really giving him room to speak as I held the lure behind my back.

Noct looked surprised at this as I stood there simply blushing after my bout of verbal diarrhea.

"You know, you didn't need to go and buy me anything." He said rubbing the back of his neck. I shook my head.

"Yeah I know but you lost your lure and well I know I can't exactly replace it I did at least want to give you a new one... sorry I'm uh n-not very good at g-giving gifts."

I bring the lure out from behind my back and hold it out to him. Noct's eyes go seriously wide, like he can't believe that I'd gotten the kinda cash needed to afford such an expensive item, his next sentence confirms that.

"W-where did you find the Munny for something like this?"

I chuckled. "A shit ton of monster hunting and frugality." I wasn't expecting to be rewarded for this, I didn't want to be either, as my father would have said: "Remember Alice, a good deed is its own reward. Don't expect that when you do something kind for someone they'll do something for you in turn.

I managed to hand the lure off to Noct without blushing, probably my greatest achievement since I got trapped here.

"Wow! Oh hey, that reminds me..." He trails off as he rummages through his own inventory before finally pulling out a fishing rod and tackle box .

"I, uh, I picked this up for you. It can't be too fun sitting there in complete silence, watching someone else fish."

I took the items and smiled shyly, desperately trying to look away and avoid letting him see my face but failing miserably to do so.

"O-oh you, ah, you didn't have to... B-but thank y-you."

After that the two of us simply spent the rest of the afternoon fishing until Noct was messaged by his friends saying that they were coming down for one reason or another. I panicked, It was already hard enough to get comfortable talking to Noct on our own but I would just be rendered speechless in front of a group of people I knew literally nothing about. I put my stuff back in my inventory and got up.

"Hey, where're you off to in such a hurry?"

"O-oh, ah, uhm I-I need to get back to my erm living arrangements, I'm just so tired from all that monster killing and questing I've been doing for the last couple of days, y'know how it gets."

"Oh, alright if you say so...I was kinda hoping you'd stick around to meet my friends and let them know I'm not crazy." He mumbled out that last part making me giggle.

"Sorry but as far as your friends are concerned, Noct, I was never here. Good night and uh, see you tomorrow maybe?"

He nodded. "Definitely."

I smiled back at him before walking away out of sight before breaking into a run all the way back to the Inn, making my way upstairs to my room I collapsed on my bed with a smile and simply dozed off. In a way I was kinda like a modern Cinderella or something, that thought kinda made me smile.  
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By the time July rolled around we'd cleared about 8 more levels and in that time I'd gotten closer to Noct and if I was to be honest with myself that fact kind of scared me. 

It's early afternoon when I get a message from Noct:

 

 

I giggled before giving my reply. 

 

I tie my hair into pigtails and throw on a white top with dark overalls and strapped sandals before heading out the door rushing to see Noct as fast I could slowing down only for the stairs. I can honestly say I've never been this giddy to see someone but, Noct was so unlike the people of Destiny Island, he was quiet sure and getting him to hold a conversation at first was a challenge but he was seemed to be a kind and passionate guy who genuinely seemed to not only care but seriously love his friends, his eyes just lit up in the cutest way when we talked video games or shared fishing stories and well he was seriously just so adorkable.

'It's scary to think about for more than one reason, if we'd met in the real world then I'd only really have to worry about him rejecting me and that'd be that but here there's the ever looming threat of death and I just wouldn't be able to handle that or we do get out and then I never see him again, my heart would break." I shake my head to rid myself of those thoughts and continue running, the fishing hole in site.

This new level was as every other level before it; brick and wood buildings just in differing layouts and whatnot. The fishing area was slightly different each time as well, this one was surrounded by what looked to be old ruined columns, it was nice.

I see Noct sitting on the edge of the pier and as always, he's busy fishing. I plop down beside him and speak.

"Hiya Noct!" I pull out my own rod and got it ready to cast. "How are you?"

"Huh? Oh, good. You?"

"Pretty good." 

We go silent for a while, both of us too busy concentrating on our fishing to really talk but after sitting here for an hour silently Noct pipes up:

"So hey."

"Hmm."

"how would you feel about joining my friends and I on a quest, we could really use the fifth player and I figured since you made it this far you have to be pretty strong."

"Noct I..." I trailed off and really thought the request over; on the one hand the idea of being around Noct's friends for however long it would take to complete the quest was kind of terrifying, what if they hated me or Noct realised I was actually a trash heap of a human being and that he doesn't actually like me? Then again on the other hand I get to spend more time with Noct and there's the small chance that his friends might not hate me, plus treasure.

Weighing out my options I came to what I felt was the best decision and said: "Sure Noct, I'd love to help you and your friends!"

Noct gave me the biggest smile I'd seen from him making my heart flutter a little.

"Great, I'll tell the guys when I head back to our guild headquarters. Man it's seriously getting late, h-hey mind if I walk you back to town, y'know since we're both basically heading the same way?" He stutters a little, it's almost unnoticeable but I catch it. 

I nodded. "Yeah, of course!" It's hard but I manage to keep a giant grin off my face.

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The walk back into town is quite, awkwardly so, I kinda hate it but at the same time I like having someone beside me on the long trek.

"So Noct, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, shoot."

"What are your friends like?"

"They're nice I guess, I've known all four of them pretty much my whole life."

"Oh yeah?..."

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Noct and I chatted the rest of the way back and by the time we'd reached our destination I felt that I knew what I was in for with the three men tomorrow; I make it back to the inn I'm staying at, I will never get a house there's no real reason to, and head on back to my room and prepare for the day ahead.

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So quick question: Anyone one want the next chapter to, like, detail Noct's thoughts and situation during the time he was out getting the fishing rod? Because I had an idea for a short side chapter that could provide more insight, just let me know.


End file.
